2. A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT:
“Literacy is a process that begins in infancy and
continues into adulthood, if not throughout life”
(Tompkins, 2010, p.111)
Literacy is “to carry out the complex tasks using
reading and writing related to the world or work
and to life outside the school”.(International
Reading Association and the National Council
of Teachers of English, 1989, p.36).
Effective teacher need to understand how
students learn and support their learning styles
by creating a community of learners and adopt
a balanced approach.
3. ESSENTIALS OF A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT:
• Getting to Know Literacy Learners
• Selecting Texts
• Literacy Instruction
• Interactive Perspective
Critical Perspective
Response Perspective
4. GETTING TO
KNOW LITERACY
LEARNERS:
The more you know about your
students, the better you will be
able to connect to them and
have a profound impact upon
them (Laureate Education,
2010b).
5. GETTING TO KNOWLITERACY LEARNERS
(CONTINUED)
• Non-cognitive assessments
help teachers learn about a
student’s motivations, self
concept, interest, and
attitudes (Afflerbach, 2007).
Non-Cognitive Assessments Include:
• Interest Surveys: Elementary Reading
Attitudes (McKenna & Kear 1990).
• Student interviews
• Teacher observations
• Attributions (Afflerbach, 2007).
6. GETTING TO KNOWLITERACY LEARNERS
(CONTINUED)
• Cognitive assessments focus on
skills and strategies used by a
student as they develop and
grow as a reader (Afflerbach,
2007).
Cognitive Assessments Include:
• Reading Inventories
• Developmental Reading
Assessments (DRA)
• Running Record
7. GETTING TO KNOW LITERACYLEARNERS
(CONTINUED)
Literacy is not just a process
involving word recognition,
comprehension, fluency, and
motivation.
Reading is making meaning from
print. In order to do so, we must
identify the words through
recognition and construct a way
to understand them through
comprehension.
8. SELECTING TEXT:
• Narrative- Fictional and
nonfictional stories/read a louds
• Linguistic- Word oriented
• Informational- Nonfiction texts
with it’s own features and
format
• Semiotic-Text communicates
messages without/less words
(Laureate Education, Inc,. 2010a)
9. SELECTING TEXT CONTINUED:
The Literacy Matrix is used to make sure
that teachers have a balance of text in their
classroom. (Laureate Education, 2010c).
By Utilizing the Matrix I was able to select
texts my students could read and enjoy at
and above their independent level.
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle
“Butterflies and Moths” by Nic Bishop
“The Monarch Butterflies Beautiful But
Poisonous” by Kelly Hashway
10. LITERACY LESSON: INTERACTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
• Interactive perspective teaches students how to read and be
strategic processors and thinkers (Laureate Education Inc.,
2010e)
• Interactive Perspective:
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Comprehension
11. INTERACTIVE PERSPECTIVE CONTINUED:
“The word metacognition is often defined as “thinking about your own
thinking,” but more accurately, it refers to a sophisticated level of
thinking that students use to actively control their thinking (Tompkins,
2010 p. 12).
Throughout this lesson, I have been able to promote my students' strategic processing
and metacognition by allowing them to monitor and direct their own progress, asking
questions such as
“What might happen next?,”
“Is this what I thought would occur?,”
“What else could happen?”
12. INTERACTIVE PERSPECTIVE CONTINUED:
• The effectiveness of the lesson based
on specific data collected showed that
the students have utilized their prior
knowledge of the lesson to help expand
their learning.
• The KWL Chart shows their overall
learning through multiple stages. Word
recognition and comprehension were
assessed through both projects and
discussions.
• Metacognition encompasses the act of
thinking about thinking, the inner voice
that helps one solve problems,
strategize, and self-evaluate
performance this can be seen through
the great classroom discussion and
beautifully crafted butterflies and
stories.
14. LITERACY LESSON: CRITICAL AND
RESPONSE PERSPECTIVES CONTINUED:
• Dr. Almasi discussed how it is important to
factor in the author’s perspective when
reading it. (Laureate Education, 2010a).
• Dr. Almasi explains that literature has the
power to transform the reader through the
literacy experience.
• This transformation empowers students
with the ability to read, research and
engage text in life changing ways (Laureate
Education, 2010b).
• Students need to connect with texts in life
changing ways and learning occurs when
students are given opportunities to share
their feelings and emotions about the text
they have read (Laureate Education, Inc.).
15. CRITICAL AND RESPONSE PERSPECTIVES
CONTINUED:
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle is a great choice, after
reading a section the students had to discuss what they read as
well as find evidence to support their thinking.
One of the discussions focused on how long it takes to go from a
hatched egg to a butterfly?
The discussion consisted of how it took more than 3 weeks.
The caterpillar ate for one week, and then “he stayed inside his
cocoon for more than two weeks.”
Another area of critical thinking that was utilized was which
foods gave him a stomach ache and which foods did not?
The students were given two charts labeled accordingly, they
were also given pictures of foods they had to color and place
in the right sections of the appropriate chart.
16. CONCLUSION:
All three perspectives are necessary to produce well rounded readers who can
read effectively, want to read, and are excited to read and think critically
(Laureate, 2009).
Literacy learning objectives for these students related to critical thinking about
a text and responding to text included literal, inferential meanings, figurative
language, metaphors, and idioms.
We also discussed how the organization of the text contributes to the meaning.
The author was able to help us to understand what certain vocabulary words
mean.
The students had to go back into the text and show where in the book they
could find the specific answers.
We then discussed the author’s purpose including the genre and the point of
view the story was told in.
17. CONCLUSION CONTINUED:
• Monitoring student progress and support was
accomplished by collecting data through
observation and student work.
• Student’s created their own stories by utilizing
what they have learned from the books and
materials.
• Their stories included words such as first, next,
and finally.
• They were also required to provide supporting
details and evidence to back up their ideas and
positions.
• The effectiveness of the lesson showed that the
students have utilized their prior knowledge of the
lesson to help expand their learning.
• The overall lesson was a great success offering
text that both fit and challenged all students as well
as projects and assignments that maintained
everyone’s interest.
• By taking the time to get to know our
students, interests, building a
relationship, and providing a safe
learning environment we are finding
ways to motivate, putting them on a
path to becoming a successful reader
(Afflerbach, 2012).
18. REFERENCES:
• Afflerbach,P. (2007).Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K-12. Newark,DE: InternationalReading
Association,
• Bishop, N. (2009). Butterflies and moths. New York, NY: Scholastic Nonfiction.
• Campbell, Linda and Campbell, Bruce. Mindful Learning: 101 Proven Strategies for Teacher and Student
Success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008.
• Carle, E. (1979). The very hungry caterpillar. New York : Collins Publishers.
• Costa, Arthur L. The School as a Home for the Mind. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2007.
• Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B., Codling, R., & Mazzoni, S. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. Reading Teacher,
49(7), 518.
• Gambrell, L. B., & Morrow, L. M. (n.d.). Creating motivating contexts for literacy learning. In L. Baker, P.
Afflerbach, & D. Reinking (Eds.), Developing engaged readers in home and school communities. Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum
• Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Foundations of reading and literacy: Motivation.
Baltimore: Author Dr. Linda Gambrell
• Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.a). Getting to know your students. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
19. REFERENCES CONTINUED:
• Laureate Education, Inc.( 2010). Analyzing and Selecting Text. [Video webcast]. In The
Beginning Reader Pre-K-3. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
• Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Informational Text in the Early Years. [Video webcast]. In The
Beginning Reader Pre-K-3. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
• Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). Perspectives on literacy learning. [Webcast]. In The
Beginning Reader, PreK-3. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
• http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/reading-comp/3rd-monarch
• Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer) (2012). Strategic processing [Video webcast]. Retrieved
from http//www.courseurl.com
• Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2010). Virtual Field Experience: strategic processing
[Video Webcast]. In The Beginning Reader PreK-3.
• Tanner, K. D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. Cell Biology Education—Life
Sciences Education, 11 (Summer), 113-120.
• Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
